Booking Form – Permaculture Design Course
Ourganics Evolving Systems, Litton Lane,
Litton Cheney, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 9DH
Saturdays and Sundays: 27th/28th January, 10th/11th February,
3rd/4th and 24th/25th March, 28th/29th April, 12th/13th May 2018
Thank you for your enquiry about our Permaculture Design Course. Please complete this booking form as fully as possible. Further details such as directions, and what to bring, will be sent to you with confirmation of your booking.
Introduction
This course is for anyone who believes that we need to find ways to care for ourselves, for each other and for the Earth. If you are looking to make a significant change in your life, then this will almost certainly help you. The design course provides you with a broad introduction to the applications of permaculturein a number of different situations.
Although permaculture is most commonly thought about in connection with gardening and farming, its principles, ethics and design methods can be adapted and used in each individual's own work, interests and home to bring about a more harmonious and sustainable lifestyle. Permaculture offers a perspective on all aspects of building a sustainable future. It encourages us to use our individual skills, knowledge and interests, whilst drawing on traditional wisdom, science and our innate ability to observe and learn from the world around us.
What you will learn
· What permaculture is and why it is particularly relevant to us today.
· How we can make cities and the countryside healthier and more productive places to be.
· How working with nature can help us to meet many of our needs, including food, water, and shelter. Some specifics:
o Some simple techniques for caring for soil, water and wildlife.
o Techniques for building eco-friendly and low impact homes and how to design them into the landscape to minimise both pollution and unnecessary work.
o What really constitutes ‘appropriate’ technology.
· The permaculture design process, that guides you in getting from where you are to where you want to be, including:
o Some effective, low-tech surveying tools to analyse and map a site.
o How to make best use of space and slope in land-based permaculture designs.
o How to apply the design process to both land-based and non-land-based systems.
· How to create win-win situations rather than trade-offs.
· How to achieve bountiful yields with a minimum of effort.
· And much, much more!
During the course you will be guided through the design process, each weekend being able to take home the net stage, so that you can apply what you are learning, to produce a design for your own home or garden.
The Teachers
Aranya Dip.Perm.Des. first came across permaculture back in the late 1980's, being fortunate enough to meet one of the first designers working in this country. He found the subject full of common sense ideas that immediately inspired him to apply the principles in his own life. During the 1990's he regularly lectured and debated on environmental issues in schools and colleges and in the media for a national campaigning group over a period of five years. He completed the 72 hour Design Course in 1996, and the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design in 2003, after which he began to teach. This he discovered was something that made his heart sing, so he made it his main focus. Since 2004 he has taught nearly 80 two-week design courses, something he has no intention of stopping, feeling it a privilege to have the opportunity to teach "something that can make a real difference in all our lives".
Aranya has been involved with the Permaculture Association in a variety of ways since 2000. He is excited about new ways in which permaculture thinking can help us, developing new courses using its principles to help design, amongst other things, for optimising our health, and creating ethical livelihoods. His popular book Permaculture Design: a step-by-step Guide was published in Spring 2012 and has already been reprinted a number of times. He’s currently involved in co-ordinating a number of other projects, including writing a second book, about a subject he’s especially fascinated by - 'Patterns in Permaculture Design'. Aranya’s website: http://www.learnpermaculture.com
Pat Bowcock Dip.Perm.Des. grew up in the Gloucestershire countryside, with a beautiful garden, an orchard, open fields, streams & ponds around her. The sound of a working mill wheel could be heard day and night. Her love of growing things, trees, water, making fires and building shelters (which always leaked) started early. Over the last twenty years she has been saddened to see whole woodlands cut down and not replaced, and old hedgerows taken out to create fields for large machinery. In June 1999, she bought a pony paddock. Her aim was to create a haven for plants, wildlife, trees and people. She realized that she couldn't change the world alone, but she could take responsibility for what she ate, where she slept, her waste, and how she interacted with others. A central element of her intention was people care, planet care and fair share.
Her design included two ponds, a 27 metre polytunnel, 42 Irish raised lazy beds, 2 acres of native woodland and 5 dome gardens. She was supported and encouraged by her family and the many people who came to help make Ourganics what it is today. Ten years on she achieved permanent planning permission in her name to live in a low impact, off-grid, timber-framed building known as ‘Our Shed’. Ourganics has become a venue for a variety of events and courses and thousands of people have had contact with the project and the principles inherent in this environment through these courses and events. She grows salad, vegetables, herbs and flowers to sell to the local community and for cooking over the fire for visitors. Ourganics Evolving Systems has become her portfolio of design work which in July 2006 earned her the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design.
The Venue
Ourganics Evolving Systems constitutes five acres of water meadow close to the coast in rural West Dorset. It’s a working permaculture project set up by Pat Bowcock in 1999 with its own detailed design that participants will have the opportunity to interact with. Pat started Ourganics because she wanted to run her own sustainable, debt-free business. She wanted to show that permaculture principles could go hand in hand with creating a land-based, self-financing and viable enterprise which would provide affordable organic vegetables, herbs, salads, fruit and flowers for the local community, with produce going out direct from the field as well as via farmers' markets, box schemes, farm shops etc. Ourganics is continually evolving, responding and changing and is a fantastic venue for this course, with its practical demonstrations of permaculture in action.
Attendance
We commit to delivering to you a diverse and comprehensive, positive educational experience. We ask you to commit to attend the whole course. We do however understand that exceptional circumstances may prevent this, in which case we ask that you notify us before the course starts of any time you anticipate being absent.
Course culture
We don't expect any previous knowledge and recognise that everyone has their own unique skills, knowledge and areas of interest to bring to the course. We use group work, discussions, videos, slide shows, observation, guided walks and practical activities as learning methods. We also visit projects where permaculture theory is being put into action.
Design courses are not just about imparting information, but also about showing you how to use it and feeling confident to do so. Empowerment is the essence of the course. We use practical and theoretical teaching methods to create a fun, lively and inclusive course. The course culminates in the main design activity that helps to consolidate all of the learning and shows you how to take permaculture back into your own home, life and community.
Accreditation
Attendance of most sessions, plus participation in the design activity is necessary for accreditation. On successful completion of the course, you will be awarded the British Permaculture Association’s internationally-recognised ‘Certificate in Permaculture Design’.
Dates and timings
The course will run from 9.00am (please arrive by 8.30am for a prompt start) on Saturday 27th January to 5.00pm on Sunday 13th May 2018. Sessions start each day at 9.00am and continue on until around 5.00pm. We have an hour for lunch each day, plus tea breaks mornings and afternoons.
The dates of the weekends are: 27th/28th January, 10th/11th February,
3rd/4th and 24th/25th March, 28th/29th April, 12th/13th May.
Cost
The full fee for this 90-hour course is £475. This fee includes tuition, site visits, handouts, digital resources, and Permaculture Association (Britain)’s certificate. The concessionary rate is £335, available to those on low incomes / means-tested benefits but limited to no more than half the available places. Accommodation is available for those coming from a distance for an additional fee – please contact Pat for details. On offer on site is ‘glamping’ in a yurt or caravan (subject to availability), plus camping as the weather gets warmer. Pat can also advise on local B&B options.
Booking
To reserve your place, complete the attached booking form as fully as possible and send together with a deposit of £100 to our address below. Any remaining balance is to be paid by 6th January 2018. Please make deposit cheques payable to ‘Aranya Gardens’ and send with the attached booking form to our address below. Keep this part of the form to refer back to later. Alternatively please email your booking form to and I can email you details to make a bank transfer.
Cancellation Policy
Your deposit of £100 is required to reserve your place, which we will hold for you until 3 weeks before the course start date, when any outstanding payment is due. This deposit is non-refundable unless it is necessary for us to cancel the course for any reason. Your place on the course is confirmed once full payment has been received. The training date selected is only transferable if at least 14 days notice is given. Transfer fee is £25. Course must be taken within 12 months of the original booking and any difference in fees will need to be settled 3 weeks prior to the course start date. Payments are non-refundable for cancellations within the last 14 days, unless we’re able to fill your place.
Pre-course reading
We don't assume that you have done any previous reading before the beginning of the course. However, if you'd like to do some reading beforehand, in addition to my own book, I really like Graham Bell's books; 'The Permaculture Way' and 'The Permaculture Garden'. There's enough in them to give you a good sense of what permaculture is about, but not too much to be daunting! You could ask your local library to get them in for you or buy them from the Green Shopping Catalogue.
We look forward to meeting you on the course.
Best wishes,
Aranya
To secure your place, please print out the attached form and send along with your payment/deposit to:
Aranya, Learn Permaculture, Spring Cottage, Axmouth, Seaton, Devon EX12 4BE, England
For more information on booking or enquiries about the event’s content or teaching:
Call Aranya on 01297 20908 or email
For enquiries about the venue, catering or available accommodation:
Call Pat at Ourganics on 01308 482455 / 0790 096 3228 or email .
Booking Form – Permaculture Design Course
Ourganics Evolving Systems, Litton Lane,
Litton Cheney, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 9DH
Saturdays and Sundays: 27th/28th January, 10th/11th February,
3rd/4th and 24th/25th March, 28th/29th April, 12th/13th May 2018
1) Your contact details and needs PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY OR TYPE INTO THE BOXES BELOW
Full Name:Name by which you would like to be known:
Please delete as appropriate: / Male / Female
Address (including postcode):
Telephone No:
Mobile No:
Email:
Emergency contact details while you are on the course: (name and phone number)
Do you have any specific dietary needs?
Do you have any other needs?
(e.g. mobility, learning difficulties)
2) Your booking (please see cancellation policy above)
The fee for this 90-hour course is £475. The concessionary rate is £335 (limited to half the places only).
A deposit of £100 is required to reserve your place; the remaining balance is to be paid by 6th January 2018. Please make deposit cheques payable to ‘Aranya Gardens’, and send them with this form to the address overleaf. Alternatively please email your booking form to and ask for details to make a bank transfer.
Please fill in and tick as appropriate
£ I am paying £______and have enclosed / am sending the full amount with my booking.
£ I am paying £______and have enclosed a £100 deposit, paying the outstanding amount by 6th January 2018.
£ I am applying for one of the concessionary places
(please check there is still one available before sending us your form).
3) How did you hear about the course? (Please state as precisely as possible so we can optimize publicity – if via the internet, please let us know the website if you can remember, thank you)
4) Your permaculture background:
Have you attended any other permaculture courses? Please state which one(s) and the tutor(s)
What other courses of a related nature have you attended and when (e.g. organic gardening, community building etc.)?
What other related knowledge/experience/skills do you have?
5) Travel and Resources:
How are you planning to travel to the course?
We will be connecting all participants via email several weeks before the course starts so that you can all contact each other and arrange lift share/requests/offers. Would you like to be included in this information?
£ Yes £ No
What other resources/skills might you be able to offer the group? (e.g. first aid, games, etc.)
6) Age Range (please tick)
£ 16 – 25 £ 26 – 40 £ 41 – 59 £ 60 and above
7) Your expectations for the course
What are your reasons for joining the course? What do you hope to get out of it?